F1 Minute

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Today is the 27th August 2008, and this is F1 Minute.

Day 1 of the test at Monza has wrapped up with a fine showing from Felipe Massa. He topped the timesheets just ahead of Kovalainen in the McLaren and then Rosberg in the Williams. Piquet did the most work, 117 laps, but he ended the day as the slowest car.

Having said that though, Renault seem to think that going slowly can actually help them get better results. We’ve seen the two Renault drivers posting painfully slow lap times during practice at the last two Grands Prix, and we’ve not really known why. Now it seems that Renault are convinced their tyres do better after running a couple of slow laps. They’re using data from the German race when Piquet finished second having run some laps behind the safety car. Apparently Alonso will be testing this phenomenon when he gets his turn in the car this week.

And very quickly to finish, BMW have apparently told Heidfeld he needs to start getting some better results if he is to keep his race drive for next year.

That’s it for today, I’ll be back tomorrow with another F1 Minute.

Published by Christine on 27 Aug 2008 at 08:07 pm

Tags: BMW, Felipe Massa, Fernando Alonso, German, Heikki Kovalainen, McLaren, Monza, Nelson Piquet, Nick Heidfeld, Nico Rosberg, Renault, Williams

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It’s the 26th August 2008 and you’re listening to F1 Minute.

Ferrari have confirmed that the engine breakdown Raikkonen suffered at the European Grand Prix this weekend was the same problem that Massa had in Hungary. In fact, they’ve admitted that they knew the problem existed but took the risk of breaking down instead of changing the engine and accepting the grid penalty.

The official statement read: “The engineers were aware of a potential risk in general terms with the 056 engine fitted to Kimi’s car, which was on its second race, given that the con rods were part of the same batch used on Felipe’s engine. Changing the engine on Kimi’s car would have seen the Finn start from far down the grid at a track where it appeared that overtaking was impossible, proving it’s not enough to bring Formula One to a street circuit in a fantastic location to produce spectacular racing.”

Even though Raikkonen retired from the race, McLaren boss Ron Dennis has said he still counts the Finn as a championship threat, and he hasn’t written him off just yet.

That’s all for today, I’ll be back tomorrow with another F1 Minute.

Published by Christine on 26 Aug 2008 at 06:22 pm

Tags: Europe, Felipe Massa, Ferrari, Kimi Raikkonen, McLaren, Ron Dennis

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Today is the 25th August 2008 and this is F1 Minute.

It seems to be the day for sticking up for your drivers, as first we have Martin Whitmarsh saying that Hamilton is getting stronger with each passing race. “Lewis is an intelligent driver, he’s absolutely committed to winning every race and he likes to end every session the quickest, but I think he’s becoming more relaxed and confident in his approach and realising that what really counts is winning the world championship at the end of the year.”

The love-in continues with Stefano Domenicali saying that they still have absolute faith in Raikkonen despite some poor results recently. He says: “It’s easy when things are going well, that everyone close to you puts your arms on their shoulders to say you are number one, number one, number one and then suddenly when you have a difficult situation, then you see, ha ha, this is already a boiled driver. That’s not the case.” That’s a weird quote. I think it’s a good thing, though.

That’s it for today, I’ll be back tomorrow with another F1 Minute.

Published by Christine on 25 Aug 2008 at 08:32 pm

Tags: Kimi Raikkonen, Lewis Hamilton, Martin Whitmarsh, Stefano Domenicali

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Welcome to an F1 Minute update for the 24th August 2008.

Earlier today, I talked of the European Grand Prix at Valencia, and we were left wondering how the mechanic was that Kimi Raikkonen knocked down in a pit stop incident, and whether Massa was going to receive a penalty for his own pit lane misdemeanour. We know have the answer to both.

The mechanic, Pietro Timpini, has suffered from a fracture to the left foot and is also apparently complaining of back pain, but it does not appear to be too serious. It seems his first words were an apology, as though the incident was his fault, which just shows you how dedicated the Ferrari guys are. Raikkonen has admitted the mistake was his and apologised to the mechanic, so all is well.

Regarding Massa, the stewards released a statement about an hour after the race came to it’s conclusion. They decided that his release from the pit stop was unsafe but that no sporting advantage was obtained, thus the team have been reprimanded and Ferrari fined 10,000 Euros. Massa’s victory is secure.

That’s it for today, I’ll be back tomorrow with another F1 Minute.

Published by Christine on 24 Aug 2008 at 08:54 pm

Tags: Europe, Felipe Massa, Kimi Raikkonen, Penalty, Pietro Timpini, Valencia

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This is F1 Minute for the 24th August 2008.

The European Grand Prix at Valencia got underway relatively calmly, with Massa holding his lead over Hamilton and the pair streaking away from the rest of the pack. There was a wide field spread and overtaking seemed almost impossible. The expected safety car situation never happened.

That doesn’t mean there weren’t incidents though. Nakajima crashed into the back of Alonso on the first lap, with the Renault having to stop. Sutil spun and hit the wall, and Raikkonen was the other retiree. He had a botched pit stop that saw him pull away with the fuel rig attached, injuring the mechanic on duty. He was stretchered away and we don’t yet have an update on how he is. A lap or so later, and the Ferrari pulled to the side of the track spewing smoke from the engine.

Massa’s Ferrari held together though and he took the win from Hamilton and Kubica. He is under investigation from the stewards, for being released in the pit lane directly into the path of a Force India. We are still waiting for their findings.

With two unresolved items, it looks like I’ll be back later with another F1 Minute.

Published by Christine on 24 Aug 2008 at 03:16 pm

Tags: Adrian Sutil, Europe, Felipe Massa, Fernando Alonso, Force India, Kazuki Nakajima, Kimi Raikkonen, Lewis Hamilton, Renault, Robert Kubica, Valencia

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Welcome to F1 Minute for the 23rd August 2008.

It looked as though we might have had a strange couple of front rows as qualifying kicked off in Valencia today. Kubica led Free Practice 3 in the morning, adding to the list of drivers who are showing well around this new circuit. In qualifying, Vettel led two of the three sessions, and both Toro Rosso cars got into the final qualifying shoot out.

Unfortunately we lost both Honda and both Force India drivers plus Coulthard in the first session, and with the Toro Rosso’s scraping through to Q3 we also saw some big names knocked out in the second. Alonso finished the day in 12th.

However, it was business as usual for the Ferrari and McLaren boys. Hamilton posted a provisional pole, only to be knocked down by Massa. Kubica slipped into third and Raikkonen finished up fourth.

The pole position has actually been moved this morning from it’s orginal position on the left hand side of the grid to the right, after Charlie Whiting observed the practice sessions and decided that was the more favourable line to take.

That’s it for today, I’ll be back tomorrow with another F1 Minute.

Published by Christine on 23 Aug 2008 at 02:26 pm

Tags: Charlie Whiting, David Coulthard, Felipe Massa, Fernando Alonso, Ferrari, Force India, Free Practice, Honda, Kimi Raikkonen, Lewis Hamilton, McLaren, Robert Kubica, Sebastian Vettel, Toro Rosso, Valencia

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This is F1 Minute and today is the 22nd August 2008.

Free Practice kicked off today, with our first look at the new Valencia street circuit. Initial observations appeared to be that the circuit lacked some colour, and seemed to be a little industrial, whilst the track itself looked like it would provide a good race.

The drivers struggled only slightly with learning the huge number of new corners, and in Free Practice 1, we were left with the surprise leader of Sebastian Vettel. This seemed out of place, but team mate Bourdais finished the morning in third, with Massa in between, so the Toro Rosso boys must have been trying something the others weren’t. The track was pretty slippery and we saw plenty of run off areas put to good use, but no major incidents.

In Free Practice 2, Alonso was the surprise with a last ditch effort to grab the top of the timesheets. Unfortunately, Raikkonen pipped him to the top, but the strangeness continued with Button slipping into third. Alonso’s day wasn’t all good though, as he was fined 10,000 Euros for cutting the entrance to the pit lane.

That’s it for today, I’ll be back tomorrow with another F1 Minute.

Published by Christine on 22 Aug 2008 at 09:05 pm

Tags: Felipe Massa, Fernando Alonso, Free Practice, Jenson Button, Kimi Raikkonen, Sebastian Vettel, Sebastien Bourdais, Toro Rosso, Valencia

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Welcome to F1 Minute for the 21st August 2008.

Today BMW released the findings of their investigation into the incident that saw one of the mechanics receive an electric shock. At the Jerez test last month, the mechanic was thrown to the ground and later taken to hospital, although had no injuries. BMW have thoroughly looked into what happened, and said that although the shock was painful, none of the team were in any immediate danger.

If you can follow this, they say: “The mechanic suffered an electric shock after touching the sidepod and steering wheel of the car. There was a high frequency AC voltage between these contact points, the cause of which has been traced back to the KERS control unit and a sporadic capacitive coupling from the high-voltage network to the 12-volt network.”

The findings have been submitted to the FIA, and BMW will also make them available to the other teams, so that similar incidents, and some other problems picked up during the investigation, won’t happen again.

That’s it for today, please join me again tomorrow for another F1 Minute.

Published by Christine on 21 Aug 2008 at 07:41 pm

Tags: BMW, FIA, Jerez, KERS, Mechanics

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This is F1 Minute and it’s the 20th August 2008.

For a while now, we’ve had rumours that teams are having to choose between working on this year’s car to improve their championship prospects, or pushing forward development on the 2009 car. Ferrari are not one of these teams. Technical Director Aldo Costa says they have the resources to work on both years at the same time, although working on the two cars simultaneously can be a challenge. Of next year’s development, he said: “We are now entering the production phase for the main components of our 2009 car, parts such as the chassis and gearbox, which is a delicate phase with no way to recover from any mistakes. One step in the wrong direction could prove very costly.”

However, Costa said they’re not giving up on 2008 just yet: “Ferrari have the ability and resources to work on next year’s car without having to relax for one moment on continuing the development of the F2008 in a championship that is proving to be very tight between ourselves and our usual opponents”

That’s it for today, I’ll be back tomorrow with another F1 Minute.

Published by Christine on 20 Aug 2008 at 07:36 pm

Tags: 2008, 2009, Aldo Costa, Development, Ferrari

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Today is the 19th August 2008, and you’re listening to F1 Minute.

We’ve heard from Red Bull recently that they are aiming to finish fourth in the constructor’s championship this year, but now it appears they’re not the only ones with such an ambition.  After a couple of strong race finishes, Renault have said that fourth is the position they have their eye on as well. Director of Engineering Pat Symonds said: “So the performance in Hungary reinforces the belief that we are moving in the right direction and gives me confidence that we can finish fourth in the championship and end the season with the third fastest car.” Not quite sure of his maths there, but it sounds good to me.

Still with Renault, Piquet is looking to qualify well in Valencia and finish with a good points haul. He reckons that he’s had to learn a lot of new tracks this year, but as everyone else is in the same boat at this circuit, it will level the playing field somewhat.

And away from Renault, just a note that Glock says he is still smiling after his second place finish in Hungary. Three weeks later.

That’s it for today, I’ll be back tomorrow with another F1 Minute.

Published by Christine on 19 Aug 2008 at 07:24 pm

Tags: Hungary, Nelson Piquet, Pat Symonds, Red Bull, Renault, Timo Glock, Valencia